Customization is being touted as the "next big thing" and is poised to take the manufacturing world by storm, turning it on its head and in the process revolutionizing business like never before. Keeping up with this trend Zoho BugTracker gives you the option to customize nearly every detail of your interface and this includes the Status and Workflow. Read on to know everything about customizing the Status and Workflow and how it can help you keep track of your bugs more efficiently.

Significance of Status and Workflow in BugTracker

      A status represents the present state of a bug in a project. A workflow is the transition that is undergone by the bug during its lifecycle.It denotes the process that is adopted by the teams for resolving a particular bug. The importance of this can be understood if we consider the following example.Jim's team is working on a project that has many bugs.Now consider that the bugs are not assigned any status or workflow.So it becomes very difficult for the team members to know the state of each bug.This in turn leads to a great deal of chaos.

      This is where the Status and Workflow comes to the rescue.You just have to assign to each bug its own status like open,in progress or any other custom made status that you prefer along with your preferred workflow.When you do this,managing the bugs becomes so much easier and efficient now that all the members of the team can view the state at which a bug is present and act accordingly.

Add your own custom status and workflow

      If you feel that the Status that is present by default is not best suited for your purpose, then fret no more because you can add your own personalized status. All you have to do is follow a few simple steps...

      Under Bug settings,navigate to the Status and Workflow option, and select the Add Status button present in the right corner of the screen. In the dialog box that opens specify your own status name and the workflow for that particular status and click Add.Now you are all set with your own set of Status and Workflows!!

      When you add a new status and assign a particular workflow to that status you have to keep in mind that the bug will strictly follow the workflow that is specified unless any change is made by using the Edit option. Each step in a workflow has a specific step before it and a specific step after it with the exception of the first step.The best part is that this workflow is customizable and can be chosen according to your need.

      For example say Jim creates his own set of custom status and workflow like define,analyse,process and review.Now when a bug is assigned to this workflow it is first opened, defined,analysed,processed and then reviewed.The transition happens in a linear fashion and no step is skipped in between.

      Now if Jim wants to add a new status called 'Verify' after the status 'Process' in the workflow then he has to first add the status 'Verify' by using the Add Status button as mentioned above.

Then go to the status 'Process' and edit its workflow to include the status 'Verify'.

Reorder and edit as you please

      Say, you are halfway through your project and suddenly there is a need to change the name of your Status or to include a new Workflow to your Status.Think it's a tedious job? It's not!! It's as easy as a pie! Just do the following and in no time you will be ready with the new edited data.

      Under the Status and Workflow click Edit then type the new name or select the new workflow that is needed and click Update to update your status.

      Reordering is also simple. All you have to do is click the Reordering icon that is present and then just drag and drop the status in the required order. When you are done just click the Save order button.

Deleting an existing status

      In order to delete an existing status just click Delete to delete the selected status.A prompt message to move the total number of bugs from the current status to any other status is displayed.

      Select the desired status to move the bugs before deleting and then delete the status.

          See! Managing your projects becomes so much easier when you use the Status and Workflows.Give us your feedback by commenting below.

Regards,

A.Precilla.